Shenzhen Xunlong has opened the reservations and priced the Orange Pi 5, an ARM architecture mini-PC that aims to compete with the Raspberry Pi 4 and surpasses it in many aspects. Consequently, it is a more expensive product, but within its category it has a price that is at least relatively contained.
As we have already said, the Orange Pi 5 is an ARM architecture mini-PC that, according to its file on the official website of the product line, implements a SoC Rockchip RK3588S octa-core 64-bit that works at a frequency of 2.4GHz and that is capable of supporting video playback up to 8K resolution thanks to the graphic accelerator Mali-G610 MP4 (remember that the graphic accelerator goes inside the package).
At the memory level it is possible to buy the Orange Pi 5 with configurations that include 4, 8, 16, or 32 gigabytes of LPDDR4X RAMso the door is opened not only to its use as a toy or to build various types of devices with it, but also to use it as a quite capable server, and that with the energy savings it provides compared to a classic x86 machine.
Other features are a 26-pin header connector, a RJ45 for Gigabit Ethernetan HDMI connector, a 3.5 mm jack plug for audio, an integrated microphone, two 4-lane MIPI DSI connectors capable of supporting 4K at 60fps, an M.2 2242 slot for NVMe SSD, another slot for microSD, a USB 3.1 Type-C for power delivery and the DisplayPort 1.4 support, one USB 3.0 Type-A, two USB 2.0 Type-A, and one DC power jack.
At the operating system level, officially supports OrangePi OS, Android 12 and Debian 11, with the former defaulting for obvious reasons. The dimensions of the mini-PC are 100mm long by 62mm wide and the base model weighs 46 grams.
The base model of the Orange Pi 5, with 4GB of RAM, can be reserved on AliExpress at the price of 71.42 euros. The buyer can find other configurations and packages that put the price above 100 euros, but here we enter the field of personal preferences.
